I have grown up and lived in five different countries with five different languages, across two continents, each with a unique way of thinking and perceiving. This taught me a key part of my approach: always observe and learn the protocols. Learn a company's culture and a brand's language. Observe the market, understand the users. To me, these abilities are pivotal skills for Human Centered Design. The solutions I provide are always grounded on observation.

Create, optimise and iterate

I love tackling challenges with new ideas, and I also know we don't always need to reinvent the wheel. Best practice, well-adopted paradigms and adaptable solutions from other industries are options I often envision. Digital products have the amazing ability to be tweaked beyond release and I am never tired of iterating. I analyse data, run interviews, spot frictions, walk a mile in users' shoes, search new paths, share ideas. I create storyboards, charts, maps, wireframes, and animations. I draw, cut and fold paper, push pixels, run tests again and again.

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LONG STORY SHORT

DIGITAL CREATIVE

My name is Ndriana Rajaonah, back in 2000 my combined interest for design and new technologies led me to study Webmastering and Digital Publishing at L'Ecole Multimedia (Paris, France). Right after, I started my industry experience as an Art Director in one of France's first digital agencies. My time there was very formative and gave me the confidence to launch myself into freelancing.Finding my own clients or joining teams, I learned to adapt to a diversity of work environments and methodologies: from buzzing small startups, to large WPP and Publicis Group agencies, in France and in the UK, in traditional Waterfall or more and more in Agile.

UX AND PRODUCT DESIGNER

Over time I became increasingly interested in people's emerging use of my work. Years of creating interactive pieces taught me the dos and don'ts of interaction design. My time in advertising gave me the mindset to create according to target audience and based on insights from studies. I seamlessly developed user research, interaction design and usability inspection skills; the switch from Digital Creative to UX Designer happened naturally.

Nowadays, my role involves interviewing users to surface their true needs or map their stories to identify pain-points. I produce prototypes to test ideas at both purely creative direction and usability levels. At times I act as a brand guardian, next as an accessibility geek. I am often found sitting with engineers supporting implementation. I collaborate with business strategists to define product roles or outline unfair advantages. Finally, if not collaborating directly with psychologists, I increasingly tend to use the most I know in psychology for my design decisions.

Oh and my favorite food? Well it’s hard to pick just one. Even though I developed an addiction for Sunday roasts during my time in London and my most memorable dish involved Udon noodle dipped in raw quail egg, overall I simply have a sweet spot for traditional French bistro cuisine. It doesn’t command that almost religious etiquette haute cuisine imposes, yet it is sophisticated and quintessentially french.